


That Incident in Lord Bridgerton's Study

by xtenn



Series: The Viscount Who Sure As Hell Didn't Deserve Kate [1]
Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:53:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28988097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtenn/pseuds/xtenn
Summary: What if Anthony had never kissed Kate in the study? A revised version of Anthony and Kate's chance meeting in his study during the Bridgerton musicale, from The Viscount Who Loved Me.All credit and thanks to Ms Quinn for her amazing characters and stories.
Relationships: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sheffield
Series: The Viscount Who Sure As Hell Didn't Deserve Kate [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129715
Comments: 22
Kudos: 123





	That Incident in Lord Bridgerton's Study

_Maria Rosso floated out, and Anthony shut the door with a decisive click. Then, some devil on his shoulder surely prodding him, he turned the key in the lock and pocketed it._

_"You," he boomed, eliminating the distance to the desk in four long strides. "Show yourself."_

_When Kate didn't scramble out quickly enough, he reached down, clamped his hand around her upper arm, and hauled her to her feet. "Explain yourself," he hissed._

_Kate's legs nearly buckled as the blood rushed back to her knees, which had been bent for nearly a quarter of an hour. "It was an accident," she said, grabbing on to the end of the desk for support._

_"Funny how those words seem to emerge from your mouth with startling frequency."_

_"It's true!" she protested. "I was sitting in the hall, and-" She gulped. He had stepped forward and was now very, very close. "I was sitting in the hall," she said again, her voice sounding crackly and hoarse, "and I heard you coming. I was just trying to avoid you."_

_"And so you invaded my private office?"_

_"I didn't know it was your office. I-" Kate sucked in her breath. He'd moved even closer, his crisp, wide lapels now only inches from the bodice of her dress. She knew his proximity was deliberate, that he sought to intimidate rather than seduce, but that didn't do anything to quell the frantic beating of her heart._

\-----------------

Just breathe, Kate, she told herself. You have managed every other suitor, and Lord Bridgerton is just a man. A handsome, intimidating one - but flesh and blood, just the same. Anthony's eyes were intent on her face, flicking from meeting her own or down to her lips. She noticed that he had taken his gloves off, and one hand reached gently up towards her face, as he opened his mouth with a smirk. Is this desire? Kate wondered to herself. Is this what it means, to be compromised - to be fallen?

"I think ..." Anthony began. But to his surprise, Kate started to laugh. Nervously at first, but with increasing vigour as her hand - gloved, of course, unlike Anthony's own - gently pushed his torso to allow her to walk away, across his study.

Anthony threw his hands in the air in a huff, all wounded ego and disappointment. Hold it together, man - what were you going to do? Kiss her? Really?

"I fail to find this situation amusing," Anthony spat out.

"Oh, you don't, I'm sure," Kate smiled, a wide grin with little mirth. "Your behaviour tonight has ensured that any way this little predicament plays out, you will lose."

Anthony glared at her, arms crossed - both desperate to ask her to explain, and unfathomably disappointed to have lost that delicious proximity they had shared only moments earlier. The memory of the strength of her thin arm through her gown, her brief and very unchaste touch on his chest, and the allure of her victorious flashing eyes, provoking a physical response that his rational self detested.

"If you are found in your study with me, Lord Bridgerton, or if we are both seen leaving this room" Kate continued. "You will have compromised me."

"So you expect a proposal, is that it?"

"I heard enough of that delightful little tete-a-tete with your singer to know all about your so-called honour in private, yet in public, could you bear the shame? Could you go to your club, when every man there knows you compromised the sister of the lady you are courting - the lady whose other suitors you are doing your best to chase away, irrespective of their merits - in your own house, at your own party? And you certainly couldn't continue courting Edwina - Mary would forbid it. Should we be caught, you could certainly expect Whistledown to address you in her columns - if she has no shame to withhold a forbidden pregnancy, she certainly wouldn't withhold this. Shame, Lord Bridgerton."

Anthony paled, taking a mouthful of the whiskey, and trying to act as if this didn't bother him. "So let's just say I would marry you," he began. Not until I'd properly and thoroughly compromised you, he added to himself. In for a penny, in for a pound.

"How honourable!" Kate responded sarcastically.

"And was that your design, after all? You talk of honour, yet here you are! Have you been sneaking into every private study across London - is that how Kate Sheffield gets herself a husband?"

 _"_ Do not be ridiculous, although I'm certain your ego is desperate for me to refute that baseless claim," Kate coolly responded, adding in a simpering voice: "Oh no Lord Bridgerton, it was just your office, it was only ever you." 

Anthony took another drink, hands shaking - was this rage, or lust? The longer she was in his office, the more uncomfortable his breeches were becoming, and it was an effort to remain focused and ignore his mind's unhelpful suggestions for the various methods by which he could both compromise her and leave her breathless, gasping his name, begging ... the thought of his obligations to their marriage bed, of Kate being his and his alone ... 

"If you trapped me, you might be my wife, but you would be a miserable Viscountess ...." Until we were alone in my bedroom, he added to himself - then you would know pleasure the likes of which you had never imagined.

"More importantly, I would be a rich Viscountess," Kate countered. "And money is something that you have never had to consider, as you have always had so much of it. I'd be able to support my family throughout their lives. I'd be able to give my most beloved sister a second or even a third season - time for her to mature past seventeen years old, to find a man who would truly love, cherish and respect her, who knew her and knew what she wanted for her future. Someone who deserved her, not simply any rich rake after a mere trophy who believes that buying her some flowers, dancing with her once or twice and talking to her of the weather is sufficient for a lifetime of happiness!"

"Why, Miss Sheffield," he said softly. "I do believe you truly love your sister." 

"Of course I love her! Why do you think I've gone to such efforts to keep her away from you?"

Anthony wondered if perhaps there was a great deal more to this woman than he'd originally estimated. He swirled the remaining liquor around his glass, tipping his head to the side and taking a bold step forward. Kate was reminded of a cat, stalking its prey, as he licked his lips softly. 

"If you were Edwina's brother," Kate said with deadly accuracy, "would you allow her to marry a man like you?"

"That is beside the point, Miss Sheffield - I understood it to be your lifetime of happiness that we were discussing." Another swallow of liquor, and emboldened by this small win, Anthony added: "And would this sham of a miserable marriage be truly for your sister's sake? There would be nothing ... appealing, desirous to you, or agreeable to yourself, in a marriage ... to me?"

Kate's traitorous heart skipped, and her imagination betrayed her, filling her naïve mind with thoughts of his touch - recalling that ungloved hand that was reaching out to her, and wondering whether their lips would have met. It was mortifying to realise that it would not have been unwelcome - she had pushed him away out of propriety and a sense of self-protection after a lifetime of being second always to her younger sister. Her skin felt covered in gooseflesh, cold, yet deep in her belly there was a warmth, rising to her cheeks. She turned abruptly, waving him away, stepping behind a tall wingback chair for the security of a physical barrier - wishing that it would somehow separate her emotional self, contain it, so her rational mind could retain mastery of this situation. You do not even like this man, she reminded herself.

"Do not flatter yourself, Lord Bridgerton. What could be my inducement? I have just heard you profess that you saw no reason to give up a mistress for a wife."

Anthony thought over his words, which had referred to loving one's wife - something he had promised never to do - and cautiously added: "I believe I said that was the case only if one does not love one's wife."

Kate laughed again. "Well, you certainly do not love me! So I believe I have proven my point." 

"Of course not, and I would never insult your intelligence by saying otherwise. But," he said loudly, warding off the interruption he knew was sure to come, "I have known you but a week. I have no reason to believe that I would not come to ... " the word stuck in his throat, and the sight of Kate's sparkling eyes, full of mischief and victory, silenced him. That he could love her was now clear in his mind, a spark, that with the smallest encouragement, could overwhelm him entirely.

"Stop, Lord Bridgerton - I know you're not a liar, so please do not continue. You're a rake and a rogue, and perhaps a whole host of other things, but not a liar." Sensing her advantage, Kate continued. "At any rate, be assured that a marriage to you is far from desirable to me. You have repeatedly failed to either charm or intimidate me, and I have no intention of trapping you. But there is hope. Your second option is to get me out of this study, with no-one being the wiser."

Anthony now laughed, holding up the key. "That will be easy, and completely my pleasure. I'll head out now, and ensure the hall is empty. Wait five minutes, then exit - turning left, then the second right to the ballroom."

"Something we finally agree on, then."

Their eyes met in silence - Kate behind her chair, and Anthony holding the key. What if, Anthony wondered - what if he let them get caught? Would she forgive him, in time? Was this interlude truly to be over - when would he ever have her alone again?

"You said before that I would lose," Anthony added slowly, making no move toward the door, "yet here we are with a plan!"

"Oh, you'll still lose, Lord Bridgerton," Kate smugly added, summoning her courage to step forward and take the key from his grasp. As she unlocked the door, she quietly added: "You know families well enough to expect that my sister will be fully informed about tonight's events, my lord. You may trust that it will go no further, but ... do you still expect success?"

The last image Anthony saw of Kate was her eyes, mocking him as she dropped into a deliberately deferential curtsy from her hidden position behind the door. Clenching his jaw, he fought the most ridiculous impulse to close the door, take her in his arms, and kiss her - to compromise her fully and completely, and to claim her as his wife. It was not honourable, it was nothing short of madness - but Anthony knew it would also be right. Everything about Kate, was ... right.

As he strode out into the hall, he didn't know whether to congratulate himself on avoiding disaster - or congratulate Kate, on being completely correct in her assessment that he had, indeed, lost.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Julia Quinn's work and disappearing into the Bridgerton world is a lovely escape from reality.
> 
> But ... I'll be honest. It annoyed me when Anthony kissed Kate in his study. He deliberately intimidated her and used her innocence against her, and then was a complete and utter arsehole to her. From locking her in, to mocking and belittling her, to grabbing her face to the point of pain when she (righfully!) accused him of being without honour. He has all of the power in their world, in their relationship and in this situation, and he is a dick about it. 
> 
> I don't get it! He'll duel at dawn to force Simon to marry Daphne, but take no responsibility for his actions here - acknowledging he has zero intentions of actually marrying her - and instead gets angry when Kate calls him out on it. And then his lame apology later in the book? He didn't even think he needed to apologize for the kiss! But if someone locks you in their study, drags you out from under their desk, presses against you, touches your face, accuses you of stalking them and then kissed you? I have to think you'd be entitled to a damn good apology for that bullshit. 
> 
> And, don't sisters talk?! I'm not sure why Kate wouldn't have told Edwina about this.
> 
> So, I decided it needed a re-write. Anthony, be a better human. Kate deserves it.
> 
> /rant over, resume calm


End file.
